Search results presented as visually illustrative concepts

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing search results in visually illustrative concept format is disclosed. Concepts relating to a query term are identified. The search results comprise a conceptual search result entry for each identified concept. Each conceptual search result entry includes at least a visual content and textual content relating to its respective identified concept. The content for a given conceptual search result entry can come from different sources.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented system forpresentation of information. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to presentation of search results.

Presently, the most common searches over the Internet are keywordsearches. A user enters one or more terms into a search engine and thesearch engine returns search results. The search results comprise a listof items or locations (e.g., uniform resource locators (URLs) of webpages) that contain the search terms. The listing may also include ashort excerpt from each items or location showing the presence of thesearch terms. FIGS. 1A-1B is an example of a portion of the searchresults provided in response to the search term “jaguar.” Search resultsentries 100 are provided as a list of URLs with corresponding shortexcerpts.

Some search engines allow users to search for images. Referring to FIG.2, an example of search results including images is shown. The searchresults comprise images with associated identifier information laid outin a grid format (in columns and rows). Each image (e.g., an image 200)has an image file name (e.g., a file name 202), size information (e.g.,a size information 204), and source URL (e.g., an URL 206) as itsassociated identifier information. The associated identifier informationis metadata provided with the image and/or is information provided bythe URL's web page. In other words, each search results entry (e.g., theimage 200, file name 202, size information 204, and URL 206) comes fromthe same source (e.g., the web page associated with the URL 206). If theuser clicked on the URL 206, the user would see that the image 200 iscontained in the web page associated with the URL 206.

Another way that search results can include images is in the context ofshopping websites. When the user enters keywords or otherwise specifiesproducts, a list or grid of desired products is displayed. Eachdisplayed product can include an image of the product and associatedinformation such as the price and product description. However, similarto the search results of FIG. 2, each search results entry is an imageand its associated information (e.g., metadata) that are already tied toeach other. The image of a given product would not be presented withinformation about a different product.

Even though search results can be displayed in a number of differentways, the returned search results is often large. The large number ofsearch result entries makes it difficult for the user to reasonably lookthrough the results. Depending on factors such as the ordering of thesearch results entries, the broadness of the search terms, and the totalnumber of search results entries, the particular entry or item that theuser is actually looking for may exist on the fifth, tenth, or laterpages of the search results. In some cases, what the user is looking formay not even be within the returned search results. Even withsophisticated searching algorithms or ranking algorithms, it is oftennot possible to predict what each user is actually looking for and toreduce the number of search result entries accordingly.

Including images in search results can facilitate quicker review of thesearch results. However, the current use and value of displaying imagesalong with textual information is limited, because the textualinformation presented with a given image is merely information that isalready tied to the image. In other words, the images are in effectmerely a kind of “short excerpt.” The number of search result entries isnot reduced by including images in the search results. Each searchresults entry is still configured from a single source (e.g., the URL'sweb page and any metadata associated with the web page). The user stillhas to scroll and skim through the search results to locate his relevantcontent.

Thus, it would be beneficial to provide search results categorized orclustered by different concepts. It would be beneficial to abstract andcompress the search results into a readily comprehensible form. It wouldbe beneficial to present multi-media content in search results. It wouldbe beneficial to present textual and non-textual information in searchresults, where the display configuration of the textual and non-textualinformation are determined on-the-fly. It would be beneficial to presentsearch results in one or more layouts or templates determinedon-the-fly. It would be beneficial to provide focused advertisementsbased on conceptual sorting or grouping of the search results.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention relates to a computer-implemented method forproviding search results. The method includes receiving a query term anddetermining contextual usages of the query term. The method alsoincludes providing as the search result a search results entry for eachof the determined contextual usages.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a computer program productcomprising computer-executable code for generating conceptual searchresults to a client device. The computer program product includes codefor receiving a search parameter, and determining at least one conceptassociated with the search parameter. A conceptual based search resultentry is generated for the determined concept. The conceptual basedsearch result entry comprises indicia representative of the determinedconcept to facilitate rapid disambiguation.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a computer program productcomprising computer-executable code for facilitating user disambiguationof search results. The computer program product includes dynamicallyidentifying at least one common concept in search result entriesobtained by relevancy correlation to at least a portion of a query term,and dynamically grouping the search result entries according to eachidentified common concept. The computer program product also includesidentifying a portion of content provided in each of the grouped searchresult entries, and dynamically constructing a conceptual search resultentry for each of the grouped search result entries. Each of theconceptual search result entries includes the portion of content fromits respective grouped search result entries.

Other features and aspects of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the featuresin accordance with embodiments of the invention. The summary is notintended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by theclaims attached hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The exemplary embodiments will become more fully understood from thefollowing detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein the reference numeral denote similarelements, in which:

FIGS. 1A-1B is an example of a search results page.

FIG. 2 is an example of a search results page including images.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a system forproviding conceptual search results.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a conceptual search resultsgenerated by the system of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a conceptual searchresults generation functionality implemented in the system of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates example content and sources used to configure each ofthe conceptual search results entry in response to a query request.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a conceptual search resultsgenerated by the system of FIG. 3

In the drawings, to easily identify the discussion of any particularelement or art, the most significant digit or digits in a referencenumber refer to the figure number in which that element is firstintroduced (e.g., element 1104 is first introduced and discussed withrespect to FIG. 11).

The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do notnecessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Described in detail below is a system and method for providing searchresults organized by different concepts. The search result entries arecollapsed and presented as multi-modal, multi-media content for each ofthe identified concepts for a specified search term. The multi-modal,multi-media content configured for each identified concept is obtainedfrom one or more sources. The concepts can be common/majority andminority concepts in accordance with the search term. Determination ofthe concepts, selection of the display content, selection of the sourcesfrom which to obtain the content, and/or selection of the layouts ortemplates for displaying the content is performed dynamically inresponse to a user's search request. Pre-determined relationship orassociation between the concepts, display content, sources, or templatesmay not be required. In one embodiment, the concept based search resultsare configured to facilitate rapid disambiguation more thaninteractivity. In another embodiment, the concept based search resultsare configured to facilitate interactivity over rapid disambiguation. Instill another embodiment, the concept based search results areconfigured to facilitate both.

Rather than displaying all items that contain one or more of the searchterms (or in accordance with the requisite search algorithm), whichtypically results in a large number of search results entries, all ofthe possible items satisfying the requisite search criteria areprocessed for selective display grouped by visually illustratingconcepts. The large number of search results entries are presented as ahandful of search results concepts (or however many concepts areidentified for that search results). Each of the search results conceptentry includes at least multi-media content for rapid review of thesearch results and descriptive text for rapid confirmation of properidentification of the desired concept. Presentation of visuallyillustrating concepts facilitates rapid disambiguation of the searchresults, one-step grouping of content relating to each identifiedconcept, and/or interactivity among the various content provided foreach identified concept.

The following description provides specific details for a thoroughunderstanding of, and enabling description for, embodiments of theinvention. However, one skilled in the art will understand that theinvention may be practiced without these details. In other instances,well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of theembodiments of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of one embodiment of a system 300for presenting search results by visually illustrating concepts isshown. The system 300 includes a plurality of content servers 302, aplurality of databases 304, a web crawler 306, a page index database308, a search server 310, a plurality of clients 312, and acommunications network 322. Each of the servers 302, databases 304, webcrawler 306, search server 310, and clients 312 is in communication withthe network 322. Each of the servers 302, databases 304, web crawler306, page index database 308, search server 310, and clients 312 can belocated at different locations relative to each other.

The servers 302 are host servers operable to provide content to clients312 via the network 322. The servers 102 host web sites (or web pages)and include data and media content. The databases 304 are operable tostore data associated with the servers 302, search server 310, and/orclients 312. For example, the databases 304 can include a database ofimages, advertisement data, and/or web page layouts or templates. Thedatabases 304 can communicate with the servers 302, search server 310,web crawler 306, or clients 312 via the network 108.

Alternatively, the servers 302 may include the databases 304,processors, switches, routers, interfaces, and other components andmodules. There may be more or less than two servers 302, depending oncomputational and/or distributed computing requirements. The servers 302may be located at different locations relative to each other. Thedatabases 304 may also be directly connected to the servers 302. Theremay be more or less than two databases 304, depending on computationaland/or distributed computing requirements.

In one embodiment, the web crawler 306 (also referred to as a spider,bot, or crawler) includes algorithms to classify (and rank) every pageor representative pages on searchable web sites. The web crawler 306 isconfigured for manual, semi-automatic, or automatic “reading” of thepages. The pages “read” by the web crawler 306 are cataloged into one ormore page indexes, such as the page index database 308. The page indexdatabase 308 includes pages, hypertext links to pages, data representingcontent of indexed pages, etc.

The search server 310 is operable to carry out search requests initiatedby users and provide search results formatted by visually illustratingconcepts to the clients 312. The search server 310 includes variousmodules, programs, algorithms, and/or units for executing the searchrequests, including, but not limited to, a search engine (also referredto as query response module or program), concept identification moduleor algorithm, and content and source identification module or algorithm.The search server 310 can also include a database of images,advertisement data, and/or web page layouts or templates for use inproviding the search results.

When the search server 310 receives a search request from any of theclients 312, the search server 3 10 (e.g., in particular, the searchengine) provides search related algorithms for identifying and rankingweb pages relative to the entered query or search terms. The searchserver 310 interfaces with the page index database 308 to identify whichpages or content associated with pages will comprise the initial searchresults. The search server 310 includes a ranking algorithm to rank theidentified search results.

Although the search server 310, web crawler 306, and page index database308 are illustrated in FIG. 3 as separate components, in an alternativeembodiment the search server 310, web crawler 306, and page indexdatabase 308 may be implemented as a single component or system. Forexample, the search engine can comprise a coordinated set of programsthat includes a spider program, a program that generates a page index,and a program that returns search results in response to a searchrequest. The spider program “reads” every page or representative pagesat searchable web sites. The indexing program that generates an indexfrom the pages “read” by the spider program. The program that returnssearch results compares the search request to entries in the index toidentify the most relevant matches and possibly also ranks theidentified matches.

Each of the clients 312 (also referred to as client devices) includes amemory 314, a processing unit 316, an input device 318, and/or an outputdevice 320. The clients 312 may be a general purpose computer (e.g., apersonal computer). Other computer system configurations, includingInternet appliances, hand-held devices, wireless devices, portabledevices, wearable computers, cellular or mobile phones, portable digitalassistants (PDAs), multi-processor systems., microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs,mini-computers, and the like may also be implemented as the clients 312.The clients 312 include one or more applications, program modules,and/or sub-routines. As an example, the clients 312 may include abrowser application (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) and agraphical user interface (GUI) to access pages and data provided by theservers 302, databases 304, and search server 310. The system 300 mayinclude more or less than two clients 312. The clients 312 may be remotefrom each other, the servers 302, databases 304, and/or search server310. The clients 312 may be wireless devices.

The network 322 is a communications network, such as a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or the Internet. When thenetwork 322 is a public network, security features (e.g., VPN/SSL securetransport) may be included to ensure authorized access within the system300.

Referring to FIG. 4, one embodiment of a search results page 400presented in the visually illustrating concepts format is shown. Thesearch results page 400 includes a search parameter field box 402 andfinal search results 403. The final search results 403 are in responseto a search request based on the search parameter “jaguar” entered intothe search parameter field box 402. The final search results 403comprise four “entries”—a first concept 404, a second concept 406, athird concept 408, and a fourth concept 410. (There may be less or morethan four concepts depending on the search parameter.) Each of theconcepts 404, 406, 408, 410 includes at least one graphical or imageelement (or visual content) and at least one textual element (or textualcontent) relating to its respective concept. For example, the concepts404, 406, 408, and 410 for the search parameter “jaguar” comprise ananimal, car, operating system, and sports team concept, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 5, a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment forpresentation of search results by visually illustrating concepts isshown. The flow diagram includes a search request block 500, an obtaininitial search results block 502, an identify concepts blocks 504, adetermine content and sources for each identified concepts block 506, adetermine concept template for each identified concepts block 508, aconfigure template with content block 510, and a display final searchresults in dynamic conceptual format block 512.

At the block 500, the user requests a search (or initiates a query) at asearch engine (to the search server 310) accessed using a browserapplication included in the client 312. The browser application caninclude and/or be associated with a GUI. The search engine can beaccessed by specifying an URL (e.g., yahoo.com). When the pageassociated with the specified search engine URL is displayed at theclient 312, the user enters search terms (also referred to as searchparameters, keywords, or query) at a search field box of the displayedpage.

It is contemplated that the search request can alternatively beinitiated from non-browser applications, such as, but not limited to, atoolbar, pop-up window, drop-down window, intranet site, etc. The searchrequest also need not be entered into a search box. Instead, the searchterms may comprise text within a web page and the web page may includethe ability to initiate a search using text from within the web page(e.g., user clicking on a search tab next to certain terms).

Once the user has entered search parameters, the search engine at thesearch server 310 performs a search using the entered search parameters(block 502). The search engine determines a list of web pages, URLs,and/or content associated with URLs that satisfies the matching criteriarelative to the search parameters. This list of web pages, URLs, and/orcontent associated with URLs is referred as the initial search results.An example of initial search results may be the search results 100.However, the initial search results are not provided or otherwisedisplayed to the user. The initial search results serve as intermediatedata to determine final search results.

In some embodiments, determination of concepts can be initiated as soonas the user starts to specify the search terms. For example, the usermay start typing search terms and before he has finished typing and/orhits the search button, the system may initiate block 502. Depending onthe user's typing speed and/or system's processing speed, visuallyillustrating concepts corresponding to the partially typed search termsmay be presented to the user before he has fully entered the searchterms. Once the search terms are fully specified, another set ofvisually illustrating concepts corresponding to the fully specifiedsearch terms can be subsequently provided.

Next at the block 504, the concepts identifying algorithm included inthe search server 310 identifies the common and minority concepts in theinitial search results. For example, a search conducted using the searchparameter “jaguar” provides initial search results that includes “hits”for more than one concept or usage of “jaguar.” Concepts include“jaguar” the animal, “jaguar” the car, “jaguar” the operating system,“jaguar” the professional football team, etc. Continuing the example, itcan be seen that each of the search results entries in FIGS. 1A-1B canbe categorized within the car, animal, or professional football teamconcepts. Additional search results entries in subsequent pages for thesearch of FIGS. 1A-1B will provide additional concepts, such as theoperating system concept. Alternatively, the block 502 may be omittedand the block 504 may be performed using the search parameter.

Concepts (also referred to as context, usage, cluster, groups, orcategories) associated with the search parameter are identified to makethe voluminous amount of initial search results manageable andcomprehensible without requiring the user to skim through all of theinitial search results. As FIGS. 1A-1B illustrate, the listing of searchresults for the search parameter “jaguar” extends more than ten pages(see a results page count indicator 104). Instead, the initial searchresults entries (or hits that would comprise the initial search resultsentries if the initial search results entries are expressly configured),which may potentially be a large number of entries, are grouped and mostrelevant content extracted therefrom to construct a small number ofconceptual search results entries.

The concepts identifying algorithm is configured to determine major andminor concepts in response to the user specified search parameter. Inone embodiment the algorithm includes a database of concepts andassociated words, and the initial search results are compared againstthe database to identify the various concepts for that search parameter.In another embodiment the algorithm identifies similar words that appearin the initial search results to construct the applicable concepts. Forexample, looking at the search results entries 100 in FIGS. 1A-1B, termssuch as “animal” or “cat” appear in entries relating to “jaguar” theanimal concept, and terms such as “car,” “models,” “automobiles,”“vehicles” or prices appear in entries relating to “jaguar” the carconcept. Jaguar the car concept and jaguar the animal may be majorconcepts (e.g., these search results appear on the first search resultspage), while Jaguar the operating system or Jaguar the sports team maybe minor concepts (e.g., these search results appear in later searchresult pages). It is contemplated that various other conceptsidentifying algorithms can be implemented in the system 300 to identifyconcepts within the initial search results. The determination ofconcepts can occur on-the-fly in response to the initial search results.

One alternative to blocks 502 and/or 504 discussed above is to identifyconcepts (block 504) in order to obtain initial search results (block502). The concepts identifying algorithm (including a database ofconcepts and associated words) is utilized to identify one or moreconcepts for the entered search parameter. The identified concepts andthe search parameter are then used to run one or more initial searchesto obtain more relevant initial search results than using just thesearch parameter. The concepts identifying algorithm (also referred toas an entity engine) figures out additional terms that are likely toappear with the search parameter. Sets of terms or clusters of wordsthat meaningfully fit together to specify an entity or concept arespecified relative to the search parameter. For example, if the persontypes in “san” as the search parameter, then the meaningful clusterentities or concepts may be “San Francisco” and “San Diego.” As anotherexample, if the person types in “San Francisco,” the output may be “SanFrancisco restaurants,” “San Francisco sights,” “San Francisco Giants,”“San Francisco maps,” “San Francisco history,” etc. These meaningfulcluster entities or concepts are used to run initial searches.

As another alternative to blocks 502 and 504 discussed above, theconcepts identifying algorithm (e.g., via a database of concepts andassociated terms) can be sufficient to identify concepts associated withthe search parameter. For example, if “jaguar” is the search parameter,the associated concepts may be “animal,” “car,” “operating system,” and“Jacksonville sports team.”

Once the concepts have been determined, the content to be displayed foreach of the identified concepts is determined in the block 506. Thecontent (and the sources from which to extract the content) is tailoredfor a given concept. Sources and content used for a given concept are afunction of the identified concept. The sources from which to extractcontent can be virtually limitless. Sources can include, but are notlimited to, news, advertisement, images databases, informationdatabases, and web sites. Content from a plurality of sources are pulledtogether for a given concept.

In one embodiment, the sources and/or the content extracted from thesources do not necessarily have any explicit tie-in or mapping betweenthem. There is no central location or otherwise mapping scheme thatcontains all of the content used to configure any identified concept. Asan example, in the search results shown in FIG. 2, the image 200, filename 202, size information 204, and URL 206 elements comprising thefirst search results entry come from the same source (e.g., a commonURL) and already exist mapped together prior to configuration as thefirst search results entry. In contrast, the various content, objects,or elements comprising each of the search results entries in theconcepts format are selected on-the-fly in response to the searchparameter.

Alternatively, it is also contemplated that the sources and/or contentto extract from the sources can be identified ahead of time for eachgiven concept. This may be useful to decrease wait time in presentingconcepts based search results and/or to compensate for equipmentlimitations (e.g., present processor times, amount of network traffic,system bandwidth, number of persons simultaneously requesting searches,etc.). When such a mapping is pre-determined, a database may include themapping and also the required content to generate the concepts basedsearch results.

To determine which sources and/or content to use, factors such as userbehavior (e.g., users' click through of particular search resultsentries from same or similar search parameters), ranking of initialsearch results entries for a given concept, type of content, sizeconstraints, default selection of relevant sources, type of concept,etc. are taken into account. Past behavior of the user requesting thesearch can be tracked via tracking information associated with his userprofile. Past behavior of a plurality of users can be tracked andanalyzed. Over time, the identified concepts, content for the identifiedconcepts, sources of the content, display order of the identifiedconcepts, etc. can change due to cumulative information gathered fromuser behavior, even if the same search parameters are entered.

Moreover, the particular person requesting a search can specify explicituser preferences and settings. For example, if the person pre-declaresthat he would like only non-commercial search results, commercialconcepts identified from his entered search parameter would be excludedin the displayed concepts based search results.

Continuing the example, some of the possible sources and type of contentfor the four concepts 404, 406, 408, 410 are shown in FIG. 6. For thefirst concept 404 (e.g., “jaguar” the animal), encyclopedias 604, images608, and video 610 are deemed to be the best fit or pairing ofmulti-media content with descriptive data. For the second concept 406(e.g., “jaguar” the car), advertisements 606, images 608, videos 610,and URLs 614 are deemed to be the best pairings. For the third concept408 (e.g., “jaguar” the operating system), advertisements 606, images608, and URLs 614 are deemed to be the best pairings. For the fourthconcept 410 (e.g., “jaguar” the sports team), news 600, advertisements606, images 608, and URLs 614 are deemed to be the best pairings. Noticethat certain concepts (e.g., cars or operating systems) are suited forcertain types of content (e.g., advertisement and pricing elements),whereas inclusion of those types of content for other concepts (e.g.,animals) is less suitable. Each of sources and/or content 600-614 can befrom indexed web pages/sites/content and/or dedicated databases (e.g.,proprietary dictionaries).

With the sources and content for each identified concept determined, anappropriate template for each of the identified concepts is alsodetermined (block 508). The templates for the different concepts withina particular search can be the same or different from each other. Thechosen template depends on the identified concept and the content thatwill populate the template. The template, sources, and content selectionfor a given concept are selected independently of other concepts (for aparticular search and across different searches). The templates (or webpage layout) can be provided from the search server 310 and/or databases304. As will be discussed in detail below, the chosen template specifiesthe position, location, size, etc. of each of the elements to bedisplayed for each concept.

Next, at the block 510, the final search results page is configuredusing the chosen template and content for each identified concept.Lastly, the final search results are displayed at the GUI at the client312 (block 512) (e.g., search results page 400).

It is contemplated that one or more of the blocks 500-512 may occursimultaneously or in different order than described above. For example,determining the concepts (block 504), determining the sources andcontent (block 506), and determining the templates (block 506) may beperformed simultaneously or in different order relative to each other.Although not discussed, there may be additional processes, components,and/or algorithms accessed to generate the final search results usingvisually illustrative concepts.

In one embodiment, the search results presented in visually illustrativeconcepts are configured to aid the user to rapidly indicate to thesystem what aspect of the search terms that he/she is actuallyinterested in. Rather than requiring the user to skim through pages ofsearch results (such as shown in each of FIGS. 1 and 2), a potentiallylarge number of initial search results entries are dynamically grouped,collapsed, and selective content extracted to generate final searchresults on a conceptual basis. The user is presented with a smartaggregation of results. Each of the displayed search results entry (alsoreferred to a conceptual search results entry, conceptual entry,clustered entry, or concept based entry) comprises content from morethan one disparate sources.

Each of the conceptual entries is configured to provide a wealth ofrelevant information organized for quick recognition and comprehensionby the user. A simple metaphor for the level of information compactnessand relevance is a baseball card. A baseball card typically includes animage of a baseball player and his name on the front side, and theplayer's basic statistics throughout his baseball career on the backside (e.g., height, weight, draft pick, position, date of birth, hometown, years played, team name, batting record, any special records,etc.).

Turning to the search results page 400 of FIG. 4, conceptual entries aredescribed in greater detail with respect to the “jaguar” searchparameter. Each of the conceptual entries includes at least one image orpicture (multi-media content) and data relating to the image (orconcept) arranged in a range of different visualizations. The contentwithin each conceptual entries comes from at least two differentsources. The number of content elements (also referred to as subpanels)for a conceptual entry is variable. The number of subcategories (e.g.,image, text, hyperlinks, advertisements, etc.) of content within a givenconceptual entry is variable. A content element can comprise data frommore than one source (e.g., a plurality of addresses to different websites within a link element).

The concept 404 includes a first image element 412, a textual element414, a second image element 416, and a link element 418. The first imageelement 412 can be the image extracted from the first “hit” in theinitial search results pertaining to “jaguar” the animal. For example,the first image element 412 may be the image 200 in FIG. 2. The textualelement 414 can be descriptive text relating to the “jaguar” the animalconcept. The textual element 414 aids in confirmation of the visual dataprovided by the first image element 412. The second image element 416can be another image relating to the “jaguar” the animal concept. Forexample, if jaguars exist in two distinct varieties, they may bevisually shown respectively in the first and second image elements 412,416. Conversely, if one image will be sufficient, then second imageelement 416 may not be required. As discussed above, the concepttemplate and subpanels are dependent on the particular concept andidentified relevant content that best express the concept. Lastly, thelink element 418 can be one or more URLs relating to “jaguar” the animalconcept. The content of each of the elements 314-418 can come fromdifferent sources from each other. For example, the first image element412 may be provided by defenders.org, the textual element 414 providedby an on-line encyclopedia such as wikipedia.com, the second imageelement 416 provided by bluelion.org, and the link element 418 providedby other animal web sites.

The concept 406 includes an image element 420, a textual element 422, anadvertisement element 424, and a link element 426. The image element 420can be an image of a Jaguar car (e.g., from jaguar.com). The textualelement 422 can be description relating to the image element 420, butprovided from carenthusiast.com. The advertisement element 424 cancomprise one or more URLs to purchase Jaguar cars or accessories (e.g.,car dealers or importers). The link element 426 can be one or more URLsto obtain further details about Jaguar cars.

One advantage of smart aggregation of search results by concepts is thatfocused advertisement can be presented. In FIGS. 1A-1B, theadvertisements 102 are all directed to Jaguar cars. However, the usermay actually be interested in “jaguar” the operating system. But becausenone of the advertisements 102 is for the operating system, a potentialadvertiser lost the opportunity for a click-through and productpurchase. Advertisers would also be willing to pay more if the relevancyof their ad placement can be assured. In FIG. 4, the advertisementelement 424 is directed to Jaguar cars while an advertisement element432 for the concept 408 is focused on the operating system.Advertisement elements can comprise, but are not limited to, links toweb sites, price lists, coupons or special promotion notification,sponsored sites, etc. Advertisement elements can comprise a variety ofdata that a third party is willing to pay to have included in the searchresults page 400. If advertisements relating to a concept arenon-existent or not relevant enough, advertisement elements may beexcluded from the displayed concept entry (e.g., the concept 404 doesnot include advertisements). Advertisement comprises third party paidcontent.

Lastly, the concept 410 can include a static image 436 and video 440(e.g., two image elements) to provide visualization of the “jaguar”sports team and two textual elements.

Concepts are determined from the sources and/or content from which thesearch is performed. If the network comprises an intranet, the search isperformed from the intranet sources and/or content. If the networkcomprises the Internet, the search is performed from sources and/orcontent available on at least the World Wide Web.

Concepts are identified for a given query term based on more thanmatches to the query term or dissimilarity in terms between hits.Identified concepts comprise understanding of abstracted contextual orusages associated with the query term so that hits can be logicallyclustered. For example, if a relatively narrow query term for a productis entered (e.g., “ipod nano”), each different configuration of the iPodnano (e.g., different configurations based on color, memory size,engraving potential, etc.) would not be considered as a separateconcept. Instead, concepts are likely to be, but not limited to, thedevice itself (models, features, etc.), reviews, accessories, how to useinstructions, purchase information (prices, sellers, etc.), anddownloadable content information (music, video, etc.). Thus, conceptidentification is not based on word match, relatively high correlation,or correlation with at least a part of the query term. The concept(s)are determined from knowledge of the context in which the query termshave been and may be used.

Images can include a variety of concept visualizations, such as, but notlimited to, pictures, photos, drawings, animation, graphics, logos,video, audio, multi-media content, or thumbnails of multi-media content.Textual content can include a variety of alpha-numeric indices, such as,but not limited to, hyperlinks, excerpts, text, or advertisements. For agiven concept, one or more such content may be selected as best suitsthe concept. For example, video may be better suited to convey motionsuch as how to make coffee based on the search term “java” (for the“java” the coffee concept). Audio may be better suited to convey a song,for example, the search term “imagine.” In cases where a generic icon orimage can be used or cannot be found from the initial search results,such icon or image can be obtained from the image database at the searchserver 310 and/or databases 304. As an example, the audio visualizationmay be an icon of a musical note.

In any case, the concepts 404, 406, 408, 410 shown in FIG. 4 areexamples of the variety of content and layouts possible in displayingthe conceptual search results. These and other combinations are possiblein accordance with the relevant content and concepts. Thus, the searchresults for the search term “jaguar” can be displayed on a single page,and the user can quickly review the images and accompanying text tospecify his actual interest or determine appropriate narrower queryterms (e.g., rapid disambiguation).

When the user has identified the concept of interest, the search resultspage 400 permits user interactivity. If the user clicks on any of thecontent or subpanels within a given concept (e.g., any of elements 412,414, 416, or 418), the system 300 responds with one or more actions.Actions can include, but are not limited to, presenting the user withthe source site or page associated with the clicked element,automatically running a new search with narrower terms based on theclicked element or concept, or presenting another conceptual resultspage that is narrowed to the particular clicked element or concept andprovides more in-depth information than is provided in the searchresults page 400.

For example, if the user clicks on the image element 412, the user ispresented with the source web site or web page from which the image wasobtained. If the user clicks on the textual element 414, the systemperforms another search with narrower search terms than those used toprovide the original conceptual search results. If the search term is“java,” and the conceptual search results comprise Java the coffee andjava the program language, then expressing interest in the coffeeconcept provides the user with an in-depth coffee page that isconfigured on-the-fly. This in-depth page can include additionalconcepts relating to how to make coffee, how to buy coffee, differenttypes of coffee beans, where coffee is grown, etc.

Referring to FIG. 7, another embodiment of a search results page 700 isshown. The search results page 700 is configured for rapiddisambiguation (rather than interactivity). Continuing the “jaguar”search term example, a search results 702 comprise four “entries”similar to FIG. 4 (a first concept 704, a second concept 706, a thirdconcept 708, and a fourth concept 710). However, unlike FIG. 4, each ofconcepts 704-710 is conveyed with minimal amount of content for quickidentification of the respective concepts by the user.

Each of concepts 704-710 includes a visual element (static or animatedpicture) and a textual element relating to the visual element. Thevisual and textual element for a given concept can be from the same ordifferent sources. The first concept 704 is directed to jaguar theanimal, and includes a picture 712 of a jaguar cat and a text 714relating to a jaguar cat. The second concept 706 is directed to jaguarthe car, and includes a picture 716 of a jaguar automobile and a text718 about the jaguar automobile. The third concept 708 is directed tojaguar the operating system, and includes a picture 720 and a text 722directed to jaguar the operating system. The fourth concept 710 isdirected to jaguar the sports team, and includes a picture 724 and atext 726 directed to jaguar the sports team. The amount of content,source(s) of the content, and layout of the content for each concept maybe specified as discussed above for blocks 506 and 508 of FIG. 5.

Concepts 704-710 are presented with enough information for the user toquickly comprehend each of the majority and minority concepts associatedwith the search term, but not too much information such that the user isdistracted from the disambiguation function. For example, uponpresentation of the search results page 700, the user can quicklycomprehend that “jaguar” can be an animal, automobile, operating system,or sports team. Hence, the user can rapidly determine which use of“jaguar” he actually wanted and proceed accordingly. In a sense,visually illustrated concepts is a way to focus search terms.

The user interacting within (and/or proximate) the display area of anyone of the concepts 704-710 causes the same next event. In other words,clicking on the picture 712, text 714, or the empty space within thedisplay area of the concept 704 causes the same next action. The nextaction can be another search results page with (more focused) visuallyillustrated concepts or a search results page with URL-type listingsearch results for the selected concept. For example, if the userclicked on the concept 706, then sub-concepts directed to jaguar the carmay comprise jaguar car models, jaguar car purchase information, jaguarcar specifications, jaguar car history, jaguar car accessories, etc. Onthe other hand, if the selected concept itself does not have more thanone sub-concepts, then a listing of URLs with associated short excerpteddescription directed to the selected concept (similar to FIGS. 1A-1B)may be the next event in response to selection of a displayed concept.

In yet another embodiment, the search results page displaying visuallyillustrating concepts is configured to facilitate varying degrees ofrapid disambiguation vs. interactivity. If rapid disambiguation is ahigher priority than interactivity but some interactivity is preferred,then each of the concepts can present fewer elements than shown in FIG.4, but perhaps still permit clicking on different elements within agiven concept to lead to different source URLs. If interactivity is ahigher priority than rapid disambiguation but some rapid disambiguationis preferred, then the number and/or variety of elements displayed foreach concept may be in between those shown in FIGS. 4 and 7.

In this manner, a system and method for generating conceptual searchresults is disclosed herein. In response to a search request, the systemdetermines various concepts or usage associated with the query term. Foreach identified concept, (most) relevant content from a variety ofsources pertaining to the concept are extracted to configure aconceptual search results entry. The extracted content comprisesmulti-media content (e.g., some form of pictorial indicia) and textualcontent. The extracted content can also comprise advertisement,hyperlinks, and/or other types of data. Each of the conceptual searchresults entries comprising a given conceptual search results isconfigured independently of each other.

Accordingly, the result returned to the user comprises a discrete andmanageable number of concepts, each concept represented as a package ofmulti-modal, multi-media content. This “best fit” pairing of at leastone visual element with at least one textual element for each identifiedconcept facilitates rapid disambiguation by the user. Identification ofconcepts, aggregation and selection of content, selection ofsubcategories of content for a concept, selection of conceptual templatefor each concept, and order of the conceptual search results entries areperformed dynamically in response to the search request.

It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity hasdescribed embodiments of the invention with reference to differentfunctional units. However, it will be apparent that any suitabledistribution of functionality between different functional units may beused without detracting from the invention. Hence, references tospecific functional units are only to be seen as references to suitablemeans for providing the described functionality rather than indicativeof a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

The invention can be implemented in any suitable form includinghardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. Differentaspects of the invention may be implemented at least partly as computersoftware or firmware running on one or more data processors and/ordigital signal processors. The elements and components of an embodimentof the invention may be physically, functionally and logicallyimplemented in any suitable way. Indeed the functionality may beimplemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part ofother functional units. As such, the invention may be implemented in asingle unit or may be physically and functionally distributed betweendifferent units and processors.

The terms “computer program product,” “computer-readable medium,” andthe like may be used generally to refer to media such as, for example,databases 304, page index 308, or memory 314. These and other forms ofcomputer-readable media may be involved in storing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions for use by content server 302, search server310, web crawler 306, or processor 316, to perform specified operations.Such instructions, generally referred to as “computer program code”(which may be grouped into the form of computer programs or othergroupings), when executed, enable the system 300 to perform features orfunctions of embodiments of the present invention. Note that the codemay directly cause the processor to perform specified operations, becompiled to do so, and/or be combined with other software, hardware,and/or firmware elements to do so.

Moreover, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements,or method steps may be implemented by, for example, a single unit orprocessor. Additionally, although individual features may be included indifferent claims, these may possibly be advantageously combined, and theinclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination offeatures is not feasible and/or advantageous. Also, the inclusion of afeature in one category of claims does not imply a limitation to thiscategory, but rather the feature may be equally applicable to otherclaim categories, as appropriate.

1. A computer-implemented method for providing search results, the method comprising: receiving a query term; determining contextual usages of the query term; and providing as the search results a search result entry for each of the determined contextual usages, the search result entry comprising at least one image content and at least one textual content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image content and the textual content for each of the search result entries are obtained from different sources.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the image content and the textual content for each of the search result entries are obtained from the same source.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the image content and textual content have no pre-existing mapping with each other.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the image content is selected from a group consisting of a picture, photo, drawing, animation, graphics, logos, video, audio, multi-media content, and thumbnail.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual content is selected from a group consisting of a hyperlink, excerpts, and text.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least a first content from a first source and a second content from a second source for each of the determined contextual usages.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining contextual usages and providing the search results entry are performed on-the-fly.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined contextual usages are not associated with price.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a focused search result page associated with one of the search result entries based on interest in one of the search result entries, wherein the focused search result page comprises at least a listing of URL addresses containing content relevant to the determined contextual usage associated with the search result entry of interest.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a contextual based search result page for one of the search result entries, wherein an interest is expressed in one of the search result entries and the contextual based search result page comprises one or more contextual uses relating to the search result entry of interest.
 12. A computer program product for generating conceptual search results to a client device, comprising: a memory storing computer-executable code; and a processor in communication with the memory and operable to execute the computer-executable code to cause performance of: receiving a search parameter, determining at least one concept associated with the search parameter, and generating a conceptual based search result entry for the determined concept, wherein the conceptual based search result entry comprises indicia representative of the determined concept to facilitate rapid disambiguation of the determined concept.
 13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising determining initial search results based on a match with at least a portion of the search parameter.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein determining at least one concept comprises determining the concept by identifying the concept from the initial search results.
 15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein determining at least one concept comprises using a concepts database.
 16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein determining at least one concept comprises determining more than one concept, and generating a conceptual based search result entry for each of the determined concepts.
 17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the conceptual based search result entry comprises first data from a first source and second data from a second source.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first data comprises image data and the second data comprises text data.
 19. A computer program product for facilitating user disambiguation of search results, comprising: a memory storing computer-executable code; and a processor in communication with the memory and operable to execute the computer-executable code to cause performance of: dynamically identifying at least one common concept in search result entries obtained by relevancy correlation to at least a portion of a query term, dynamically grouping the search result entries according to each identified common concept, identifying a portion of content included in each of the grouped search result entries, and dynamically constructing a conceptual search result entry for each of the grouped search result entries, wherein each of the conceptual search result entries includes the portion of content from its respective grouped search result entries.
 20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising: receiving indication of interest in one of the conceptual search result entries; and constructing a focused search results for the conceptual search result entry of interest, wherein the focused search results comprise search result entries for the identified common concept associated with the conceptual search result entry of interest.
 21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein dynamically identifying the common concept is not based on a word match with at least a portion of the query term.
 22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein each of the conceptual search result entries include multi-media, multi-modal content. 